Jury to return Friday in Erie homicide case (updated 4:30 p.m.)

This is a photo contributed by Erie Police of Michael R. James, who is charged in a July 2012 homicide. CONTRIBUTED/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

A jury will resume deliberations on Friday in an Erie homicide trial after meeting for more than six hours on Thursday and failing to reach a verdict.

The jury at about 9:45 a.m. on Thursday got the case of Michael R. James, 29, accused in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Teverous G. "Gooney" Williams at East 19th and Ash streets in July 2012.

President Judge Ernest J. DiSantis Jr. dismissed the jury -- seven women and five men -- around 4:20 p.m., with instructions to return Friday morning.

Testimony started Monday. James, an admitted drug dealer from Berwick, near Wilkes-Barre, said he shot Williams in self-defense.

The District Attorney's Office is seeking a conviction for first-degree murder -- a premeditated killing -- or third-degree murder -- an unpremeditated killing with malice. James is also accused of kidnapping the main witness in the case to keep him quiet.